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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181349">Don't Just Do Something</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voluntary/pseuds/Voluntary'>Voluntary</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: Legend of Korra</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Cuddling &amp; Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:55:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>960</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181349</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Voluntary/pseuds/Voluntary</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While Korra struggles with her mercury poisoning, Naga tries to teach Asami a lesson about comfort</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Korra/Asami Sato</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Don't Just Do Something</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Asami brandished a fistfull of pamphlets toward Korra’s bed as if she were warding off the melancholy. “I’ve been reading all about healing research at Agna Qel’a University! They’re working on techniques for patients with nerve damage and it sounds really promising.” Naga huffed. “Look, Dr. Harah says that in 83% of patients ‘focusing energy through axon bundles promotes dendritic growth’. So, that means --”. Naga buried her snout in her paws. She could smell the stress on both women. Korra’s shoulders tensed harder under the sheets with every foreign word. Asami clearly wasn’t helping. Why did humans always <em>talk</em> like this?</p><p>“There’s so much good data here.” Asami shook her pamphlets. “Each of these studies is a reason to be hopeful. Try to keep your head u --” “Thanks, Asami” Korra cut her off. She was smiling but she didn’t smell happy. Her eyes didn’t twinkle. The smile was a lie. “I’m feeling pretty tired right now so I think I’m going to sleep for a while”. “Okay,” Asami smiled back weakly, also lying with her face, “I’ll talk to you later”. She stood up from her chair, a few feet from the edge of Korra’s bed, and retreated through the door. Naga lifted her head off the bed and followed.</p><p>Asami paced down the hall, turned the corner, and slumped onto the ground with her back against the wall. She took a few shaky breaths and squeezed her eyes tight, wetting her research with teardrops. Naga laid her head in the woman’s lap and Asami hugged her, crying softly. Eventually, Asami’s shaky breaths steadied and her heart rate came down. She whispered, defeated. “I don’t know how to help her, Naga. I don’t know how to convince her that she’s going to be okay. I’m … all out of ideas for now”. She sighed. “I wish I knew what my mother would have done.” She scratched Naga between the ears, picked herself up, and continued down the hall toward the dining room.</p><p>Naga liked Asami. The girl was a fighter, brave, loyal, and kind. All qualities a polar bear dog could admire. She was grateful that Korra had a girl like that in her pack. And it was good for Korra to have a human to support her. Sometimes, <em>sometimes</em>, the talking did seem to help. She’d seen Tenzin’s words really work before when there had been nothing Naga could do herself. And it hadn’t escaped her that Asami could be more than a packmate. She noticed the way Korra’s heart rate elevated when Asami walked into a room, the way her skin flushed, the way her pupils dilated for a fraction of a second. But if Asami was going to be Korra’s companion, she would have to learn to do better than this. Naga would teach her.</p><p>She bounded into the dining room where Pema smiled and nodded as Asami gestured to her pamphlets. Naga paced up to the younger woman, bit her skirt, and tugged her toward the hallway. “Naga! Okay, I’m coming. What’s wrong?” Asami strode quickly down the hall and cracked the door to Korra’s room. They could both see her lying in bed with her eyes closed, breathing in and out, safe. Asami shut the door softly and made a pacifying gesture down the hall to Pema before turning back to Naga. “She looks okay to me, girl. What is it?” Naga huffed and pawed the door again. “Maybe we should let her sleep”. But Naga butted her head against the door, insistent. They shared a look. Asami hesitated, then conceded, opening the door. The polar bear dog turned, walked through the door backwards, and just before Asami could close it, yanked her into the room by her skirt.</p><p>She moved her head behind Asami’s back and shoved her hard, catching her off guard and sending her sprawling onto the bed. Asami yelped. Korra started awake, tense. “I didn’t mean to wake you, Naga just --” Naga growled and Asami fell silent. Korra tried next. “What’s wrong gir --” Naga growled again. She pushed the door shut with her head before resting her chin on Asami’s legs, pinning her there. For a few seconds nobody spoke. Korra and Asami separated themselves, and Naga wagged her tail. “So --” Asami choked out before Naga cut her off with a huff and abruptly stopped wagging, sending the trio into silence once more. “I think --” Growl. “We aren’t --” Growl. “Allowed to talk”.</p><p>For a while it was awkward while the two women lay there, rigid, deliberately separated. But slowly, they settled next to each other. And after a minute of simply being, without talking, Naga felt Asami have an idea. Or perhaps recall a memory. Or both. The woman scooted back in bed, sitting up against the headboard. She cradled Korra’s head in her hands and laid it down gently in her lap. She began to brush her fingers through the Avatar’s long black hair. And she breathed. They curled up like this for a long while. And they breathed.</p><p>Naga felt Korra press into Asami. The Avatar was not peaceful, or relaxed, or happy. She was drowning in herself, but for the first time in weeks she had a lifeline to grasp. She turned her head to hide her eyes, hugged Asami’s leg tightly, and cried softly into her friend. “I’m so afraid Asami.” she whispered “That I’ve lost everything I am. That I’m broken. And this time there’s nobody who can put me back together”. Asami kept brushing her hair. “Whoever you are and whoever you become,” she whispered back, “I’ll be right here”. So Asami brushed Korra’s hair. Korra’s shaky breaths steadied and her heart rate came down. She brushed Korra’s hair. She brushed Korra’s hair. And they breathed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I like to think I share some qualities with Asami: STEM degree, logical, problem solver. And I've definitely been paragraph one Asami before in friendships and romantic relationships. I used to try logicking people out of grief, even though it clearly never worked. But eventually I started to see the value of "don't just do something, stand there" and I thought it would be fun to explore what Asami's version of that journey might have looked like.</p><p>I'd love to hear what other people's experiences with comforting others have looked like in the comments. Personally, I learned the most about this topic from my high school girlfriend. She struggled with depression, and after a long time (too long) I learned that when the sadness set in, the best thing I could do was to hug her and listen. Who have you learned to do this for? Or who has done this for you?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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